Displaying content associated with electronic mapping systems

ABSTRACT

Various methods, systems and apparatus for displaying alternate content in a digital mapping system, are disclosed. One such method may include detecting a change in a zoom level of an electronic map displaying geographic content (e.g. tile-based digital map, satellite image, etc.) on a computing device (e,g. desktop/laptop, smart phone, etc, running Windows®, Linux®, Mac OS®, iOS®. Android®, etc.); determining a predetermined (eg. maximum) zoom level has been reached; retrieving alternate content, and displaying the alternate content in addition to, or in place of, some-or-all of the geographic content. The method may further include detecting a zoom-out command while the alternate content is being displayed, and in response, restoring the display of the geographic content (e.g. at the maximum zoom level and/or last state of the geographic content display prior to displaying the alternate content.) Alternate content may be associated with any portion of geographic content displayed (e.g. the portion of the geographic content visible at the maximum zoom level) and may be selected via various algorithms and be manipulate-able via map display application controls.

RELATED U.S. APPLICATION DATA

Continuation-in-Part of application Ser. No. 12/012,353, filed on Feb. 1, 2008.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to mapping on electronic devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to associating content pertaining to a point-of-interest, or to a visible portion of an electronic map, and displaying the content in response to a change in the electronic map's zoom level.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Popular mapping services include Google Maps®, Yahoo! Maps®, Windows Live Search Maps®, MapQuest® and others. Mapping services are typically available to a user through a web browser, running on a computer or a portable electronic device, such a cellular phone, personal digital assistant, etc. Mapping services allow a user to view a map in various formats (e.g. 2D, 3D, aerial, road, etc.). Functionality provided includes “zoom in” and “zoom out”, which allows the user to see a smaller region at a greater level of detail, and larger region in less detail, respectively. Zooming in and out is often accomplished with the help of a control (e.g. a graphic control) which the user can manipulate with an input device such as a mouse, keyboard, stylus, by touch, etc. Zooming-in may be limited by settings defining minimum/maximum zoom levels, and/or by the physical limitation of zoom data available. For example, urban areas are often available for zoom up to the maximum “street level” (i.e. one or more streets with individual buildings are clearly visible) whereas remote areas may be available for zooming at a lower maximum level. An attempt to zoom-in past the maximum zoom level may either generate no new geographic data and/or display text alerting the user that no map data is available at the current zoom level.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides various methods, systems and apparatus for displaying content associated with a point-of-interest (“POI”) in a digital mapping system. In response to a “zoom in” command received by a map-display application, displaying a selected area of the map at a magnification beyond a predetermined zoom level, content associated with a POI on the map (“POI content”) may be retrieved and displayed. In one embodiment, POI content may be retrieved from a data store containing various POI content for multiple POIs. In another embodiment, POI content may be derived from a website associated with the POI, through an automated process. POI content may be in the form of media (a photograph, audio, video, etc.). POI content may be associated with a region of a displayed-area of a map, the region collectively being considered a POI.

In one embodiment, POI content may be displayed overlaying a portion of the map allowing some parts of the map to remain visible. In another embodiment the POI content may replace the map or overlay its entirety. In response to various commands (e.g. zoom out, pan, etc.) the POI content may be hidden from view, restoring the map to its visual state prior to the POI content having been displayed. POI content may include images, media, web content, KML (for Keyhole Markup Language) files, documents, etc.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present invention and further advantages thereof, references are now made to the following Detailed Description, taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a generalized block diagram illustrating the transformation of a digital map into POI-related content, in response to a zoom-in functions, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D are general block diagrams illustrating various map images and content, displayed in response to changes in zoom levels, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are generalized block diagrams illustrating rendering mapping and POI content on a user's electronic device, according to two possible embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are generalized flow diagrams illustrating logic for determining and displaying POI content, according to other possible embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are generalized flow diagrams illustrating methodologies for retrieving POI content for display, according to various possible embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a generalized flow diagram illustrating demarcating and flagging locations on a map for which POI content exists, according to one possible embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are generalized block diagrams illustrating displaying POI content on top of a map, obscuring only a portion of the map, according to one possible embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 8 is a generalized block diagrams illustrating automatically obtaining POI content, according to one possible embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a generalized block diagrams illustrating displaying POI content in response to a command in a context menu, according to one possible embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 10A, 10B, 10C and 10D are generalized block diagrams illustrating displaying varied POI content association with a location on a map, according to other possible embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a generalized block diagram illustrating displaying POI content associated with social networking websites, according to one possible embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 12A, 12B, 12C and 12D are a generalized flow diagrams illustrating various algorithms used by a map-display application for retrieving and displaying POI content, according to numerous possible embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a generalized block diagrams illustrating retrieving POI content from web sties associated with points of interest (“POI”) on a map, according to one possible embodiments

FIGS. 14A and 14B are generalized block diagrams illustrating retrieving and displaying POI content from a mapping server, according to one possible embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a generalized block diagram illustrating the transformation of a digital map into POI-related content, in response to a zoom-in function, according to one embodiment of the present invention. Electronic device 100 (e.g. a computer, cellular/smart phone, personal digital assistant, etc.) may display a digital map 110. Digital map 110 may be generated by a mapping service (e.g. Google Maps®, Yahoo! Maps®, Windows Live Search Maps®, etc.) and may be transmitted to electronic device 100 electronically (e.g. via the interne, wirelessly, using cellular communication, etc.)

Map 110 may be generated and displayed by computer code (e.g. using technologies such as AJAX, javascript, http requests, DHTML, XML, VML, Flash®, etc.) in a map-display application (e.g. a browser application.) Map 110 may be composed of graphical images, known as “map tiles”, that may be received by the client device 100 from the mapping service, and assembled and displayed as a map 110. Images (e.g. a location marker 130, pictures, icons, Flash® media files, etc.) may be generated by the mapping service as graphics (e.g. “PNG” or “GIF” files) and transmitted to the electronic device 100 to be displayed on map 110.

Map 110 may display points of interest. A point-of-interest (“POI”) may be designated by a location marker 130. A POI may be generated in multiple ways. A POI may be selected by the user (e.g. by touching the screen, using a pointing device, etc.) A POI may correspond to a physical address or landmark. In yet another possible embodiment, a POI may comprise an area of a map. For example, in a case where a map at the highest zoom level displaying one or more houses, the houses—or a visible segment of a street where the houses are—may be collectively considered a POI. A POI may be designated by the mapping service providing map 110. For example, the mapping service may generate/designate a POI in response to a user query (e.g. the user may enter a search query such as “shopping mall” and the mapping service may mark one or more shopping malls on map 110 as POIs.)

In the presently-preferred embodiment, a POI may also be designated implicitly—for example, when a map 110 is displayed in the highest zoom level, a landmark most prominent (e.g. occupying largest area of the map) may automatically be designated a POI. In an alternate embodiment, a landmark closest to the center of the map 110 may be automatically designated a POI. In yet another embodiment, a landmark closest to the center of the map 110—with which the mapping service has associated information, may automatically be designated a POI.

Map 110 may be manipulated by the user of electronic device 100. For example, the user may use a control and/or pointing device (e.g. stylus, fingers touching the screen, mechanical/electronic controls, etc.) to pan across or zoom into a map 110.

A map is commonly capable of being displayed in various zoom levels. In response to a user's selecting a zoom level, the map-display application may determine the new region to be displayed, request the corresponding map tiles from the mapping service, and display the received map tiles over the previous map tiles, which were displayed at the previous zoom level.

Zooming is generally supported within limits. A zoom-level may be designated by a number—for example, in the range of “0“−”20”, where “20” may represent the highest-supported zoom level and “0” may be the lowest supported zoom level. For example, zoom level “0” may show a view of Planet Earth, while zoom-level “10” may show a map view of the area equivalent to an average State; zoom-level “15” may show a map of a city and the highest zoom level, “20”, may show one or more streets and/or a large building.

At present, integers denoting a zoom level may be arbitrary and change over time. Zoom levels may be correlated to a physical scale. For example, a zoom level of 0 may correspond to a map scale of 1 inch=20,000 miles. A zoom level of 10 might be 1 inch=200 miles, 15 can correspond to 1 inch=20 miles, 20 might be 1 inch=200 yards, etc.

In the most common implementations of mapping technology, at present, a user attempting to zoom-in past the highest zoom-level (i.e. the map is displayed at the highest zoom-level, example “20”, and the user attempts to further zoom in), may be displayed one of two things: in some cases, the display may remain unchanged (with an occasional accompaniment of an audible signal, e.g. a “beep” sound) to indicate to the user no further zooming is available. In another common implementation, new map tiles are displayed indicating to the user no map image is available in the current zoom level. (e.g. the map is replaced with blank tiles, i.e. non-descript map tiles bearing text such as “No information is available at this zoom level. Please try zooming out.”)

In the presently-preferred embodiment, content 120 (“POI content”) associated with a POI on the map 110 (e.g. a POI demarked by location marker 130), may be displayed in electronic device 100 in response to a request to zoom-in while the current zoom-level is at maximum (i.e. no map data may exist at the requested zoom level, past the current 100% zoom level.)

In an alternate embodiment, POI content 120 may be displayed in response to a request to zoom to the highest zoom level (i.e. in this alternate embodiment, POI content may be displayed at a zoom level where map data may still be available.)

In yet another alternate embodiment, POI content 120 may be displayed in response to a request to zoom to a pre-determined zoom level. Pre-determined zoom levels may be set by a user, may be default settings, may be set dynamically based on POI-content provider preferences, etc.

POI content 120 may include various information, including, but not limited to, information pertaining to the POI determined, to be of relevance to the user. In this example, The POI in map 110 is a shopping mall titled “Great Mall”, Hence POI content 120 may be a schematic diagram showing the store layout of the shopping mall “Great Mall”. In alternate embodiments, POI content 120 may include hyperlinks to additional information pertaining to the POI. In this example, hyperlinks “Nordstrom 702.555.1211 website” 140 and “Macy's 702.555.1210 website” 150 may display to the user, phone numbers of stores in the shopping mall, and provide hyperlinks to the websites of stores. In alternate embodiments, as we shall discuss in later figures, other types of POI content may be displayed.

FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D are general block diagrams illustrating various map images and content, displayed in response to changes in zoom levels, according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 2A-2D illustrate an electronic device 200 (e.g. a personal computer, smart phone, PDA, etc.)

Electronic device 200 may include a map-display application 202 (e.g. a browser, an application capable of displaying a map generated by a remote mapping service, etc.) In the presently-preferred embodiment, map-display application 202 may support the display of various map types and images, including graphical images extraneous to maps generated by a mapping service.

Referring to FIG. 2A, a map 210 may be displayed in map-display application 202. Map 210 may be displayed at various zoom levels. For example, zoom-level indicator 212 may indicate a zoom level of “20%” In this example, map 210 is displayed in a satellite image/hybrid map format, for illustrative purposes only—the present invention supports any type of map format (e.g. a 2D map, a 3D map, an aerial map, a hybrid map, a road map, etc.)

Referring now to FIG. 2B, map-display application 202 displays a map on device 200. In this example, zoom-level indicator 232 may display “Zoom Level 70%”. Accordingly, the reader will notice that map 230 is displayed at a higher zoom level than map 210 in FIG. 2A. (i.e. the word “ocean”, an entire airport perimeter and the word “airport” are visible in map 210, whereas only a portion of the airport, appearing larger, is visible in map 230.) The user may have used various controls to issue a command to increase the zoom level (e.g. controls such as keyboard, touch screen, mouse, stylus, voice command, etc.)

Referring now to FIG. 2C, zoom-level indicator 252 may read “Zoom level 100%”. Accordingly, map 250, displayed in map-display application 202 on device 200, may be displayed at the highest-possible zoom level (i.e. a small portion of the airport image in map 210 is displayed over the same screen area as map 210, allowing for a greater level of detail to show.)

In map-display application 202, illustrated in FIGS. 2A-2C, a zoom level may change in response to a user's input (e.g. via an input device such as a mouse, stylus, touching a touch-screen, mechanical control, keyboard, etc.), in accordance with the common operation of mapping systems in the prior art domain. Sequential user input, interpreted as a commands to increase the zoom level, may cause the zoom level to increase in a sequence, as illustrated in FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C (FIG. 2A illustrates map 210 at zoom level 20%, FIG. 2B illustrates a map 230 at zoom level 70%, FIG. 2C illustrates a map at zoom level 100%.)

In all presently-existing prior art, a user's input command to increase the zoom level of the map beyond the maximum-supported zoom level (i.e. map-zoom level is 100% prior to user's invoking a command to zoom-in), does not display additional mapping information or content associated with POIs on the map.

Referring now to FIG. 2D, in the presently-preferred embodiment, additional content may be displayed in response to the user's invoking a zoom-in command past the highest-supported zoom level. Map-display application 202, on electronic device 200, may display content associated with a POI on the map (“POI content”) 270.

In the presently-preferred embodiment, POI content 270 may be content associated with a POI most prominent on the map which is displayed at the highest-zoom level (e.g. map 250 in FIG. 2C) In alternate embodiments, as will be shown in later figures, various other methods may be used to determine a POI whose associated POI content may be displayed.

In this example, POI content 270, displayed in map-display application 202, may be a layout diagram of the airport in maps 210, 230 and 250 in FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C, respectively. While maps 210, 230 and 250 may be satellite images of an airport—with map 250, labeled “Zoom level 100%” 252—displaying the highest-resolution map (e.g. image of the airport terminal), POI content 270, at a zoom level labeled “Zoom level—Layout” 272, may display the layout of the airport's terminal(s).

As will be discussed in later figures, POI content 270, which may be displayed when the user invokes a zoom-in command past the highest-available zoom level, may be an image, a website, Flash® content, PDF® content, any form of active content, etc.

In the presently-preferred embodiment, in a case where the area of map-display application 202 is relatively small (e.g. on the screen of a smart phone or PDA) POI content 270 may display in the entire display area of map-display application 202 (i.e. entirely obscuring the map 250 in FIG. 2C.) In alternate embodiments, as shown in other figures, POI content 270 may display overlaying map 250 (i.e. displayed “on top” of map 250 obscuring a portion of map 250.)

FIGS. 3A and 3B are generalized block diagrams illustrating rendering mapping and POI content on a user's electronic device, according to two possible embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 3A illustrates one possible client-sided-logic embodiment, where a map-display application on the client's electronic device may request and display mapping information; and, when deemed necessary, may request and display POI content information. FIG. 3B illustrates one possible server-sided-logic embodiment, where a mapping server provides a client-sided map-display application both with mapping and POI content data.

Please note that, both in FIGS. 3A and 3B, map-display applications 304 a and 304 b represent the same map-display application, in two different states: the map-display application is denoted as 304 a when displaying a map, and as 304 b when displaying POI content.

Referring to both FIGS. 3A and 3B, a user's electronic device 300 may communicate with a mapping server 310 over a network 302 (e.g. the world-wide web.) A map-display application 304 a, running on user's electronic device 300, may receive mapping data from mapping server 310 and display the mapping data as a map 306. The mapping data may generally include mapping tiles—or images—which map-display application 304 a may then display stitched together to form a map.

Map-display application 304 a may receive input from the user (e.g. pan, zoom, new locations/coordinate to display, etc.) In response to the user input, map-display application 304 a may request mapping information from mapping server 310 and display the received mapping information.

Please note that it is common practice for map-display applications to use caching to store various mapping data. Once mapping data is received from the mapping server for the first time, it may be stored in local cache. Subsequent request for the same data may receive the data from local cache and not from the mapping server. Since caching is out of scope for this discussion, we describe all data as transmitted from a server, disregarding the fact that in an actual implementation, some of the data may be retrieved from a local cache.

Referring now to FIG. 3A, in one presently-preferred embodiment, a map-display application on the client device may receive data (i.e. mapping data and various other data) from various sources and display the received data. For example, data used for rendering a map may be received from a mapping server, whereas other data, such as POI content, may be received from other offline and online sources. The map-display application may determine the sources from which to receive various types of data.

A map-display application 304 a may obtain and display mapping data as map 306, from mapping server 310. POI content 308 may be obtained and displayed by the map-display application 304 b, from other data sources 320 (e.g. an on-line database of POI content, world-wide web pages and content, etc.) In this example, map-display application 304 a may display mapping data as a map 306, showing a shopping center titled “Great Mall”. In response to input requesting zooming-in past the highest-allowed zoom level, map-display application 304 b may retrieve POI content from various sources 320, and display the POI content 308 (in this example a layout diagram of the “Great Mall” shopping center.)

Referring now to FIG. 3B, in another embodiment, a map-display application may obtain all data—mapping data and POI content data—from a mapping server. In this embodiment, user input (e.g. pan, zoom, inputted location name, etc.) may be transmitted by the map-display application 304 a to a mapping server 310. Mapping server 310 may retrieve POI content, as needed, from various sources 330 (e.g. an online POI content DB) and transmit back to map-display application 304 b images containing POI content 308.

A map-display application 304 a may obtain and display mapping data as map 306, from mapping server 310, as discussed previously. Map-display application 304 a may transmit user input to mapping server 310, in response to which mapping server 310 may construct and transmit back new display images. Mapping server 310, upon receiving from map-display application 304 a a user request to zoom-in past the highest-allowed zoom level, may (1) obtain POI content from external POI content sources 330, and (2) construct new display images containing POI content and (3) transmit the new images for display by the map-display application 304 b as POI content 308.

In this example, mapping server 310 may transmit to map-display application mapping data forming map 306, showing a shopping center titled “Great Mall”. In response to input requesting zooming-in past the highest-allowed zoom level, mapping server 310 may obtain POI content from other sources 330 and transmit images containing the POI content to map-display application 304 b for display as POI content 308 (e.g. a layout diagram of the “Great Mall” shopping center.)

FIGS. 4A and 4B are generalized flow diagrams illustrating logic for determining and displaying POI content, according to other possible embodiments of the present invention. FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate event-driven logic—i.e. various flows are invoked in response to events received, and generated by, a map-display application. Events related to mapping technologies and map-display applications are further discussed in FIGS. 12A-12D.

Referring to FIG. 4A, the logic in flow diagram 400 may be invoked by a zoom-in event (e.g. the map-display application receives user input invoking a zoom-in command.)

At step 402, it may be determined whether the highest-allowed zoom level has been reached prior to the zoom-in event. If it is determined that the highest-allowed zoom level has not been reached prior to the zoom-in event, at step 403 other logic (not depicted in this flow diagram as it is out-of-scope for this discussion) may be invoked.

If it is determined at step 402 that the highest-allowed zoom level has been reached prior to the zoom-in event, at step 404 the center of the map may be determined. A map is commonly displayed as tiled images representing a range of longitude/latitude values. The center of the map may be determined mathematically by calculating the mean horizontal display coordinate and mean vertical display coordinate.

At step 406, the center of the map, determined in display-coordinates at step 404, may be transformed into longitude/latitude coordinates.

Please note that the process of determining the center of a displayed map, in screen coordinates, and translating the screen coordinates into longitude/latitude values, is well established and is commonly used in prior art.

At step 408, a database of POIs may be scanned to determine if a POI matching the longitude/latitude coordinates determined at step 406, exists. For example, a POI database may include a list of POIs (e.g. shopping centers, airports, amusement parks, etc.), including the longitude/latitude coordinates of the POI.

At step 408, a list of all POIs within the coordinate range displayed on the map may be retrieved and, in the event more than one POI is determined to be within the coordinate range, the POI closest to the center coordinates, determined at step 406, may be selected.

If at step 410 it is determined that at least one matching POI has been found at step 408, at step 412 content associated with the POI found at step 408, may be retrieved. In an alternate embodiment, if it is determined at step 410 that either not even one POI has been found; or a setting has been set to treat the entire visible portion of a map as a collective POI, at step 412 content associated with the entire portion of the map may be retrieved.

At step 414, the content associated with the POI (“POI content”), retrieved at step 412, may be displayed by the map-display application. In the presently-preferred embodiment, the POI content may be displayed overlapping a part of—or the entirety of—the map displayed by the map-display application. In an alternate embodiment, the POI content may be displayed replacing the map previously displayed by the map-display application. In another embodiment, the POI content may be displayed externally to the map displayed by the map-display application.

If at step 410 it is determined that no POI has been found at step 408, at step 420 the flow may terminate. In alternate embodiments, at step 420 the user may be notified no POI has been found, for example audibly as in a “beep” sound, or via a message indicating no POI content is available, etc.

Referring now to FIG. 4B, flow diagram 430 may be invoked when a zoom event is received by the map-display application. If at step 432 it is determined that a “zoom-out” function has been invoked, at step 434 the POI content may be removed or hidden (depending on the POI content display-method used at step 414 in FIG. 4A.)

At step 436, the map ordinarily displayed at the highest-allowed zoom level, may be displayed to the user, unobstructed by POI content.

In alternate embodiments, as discussed in other figures, the logic of flow diagram 430 may be used in response to other events, such as a user panning the map, inputting a different geographic region to map, etc.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are generalized flow diagrams illustrating methodologies for retrieving POI content for display, according to various possible embodiments of the present invention. POI content may be retrieved from a content data store; or, if POI content is determine to not exist in a content data store, POI content may be retrieved from a website associated with the POI. Alternatively, content associated with a visible portion of a map may be retrieved and displayed as POI content.

Flow diagram 5A illustrates an embodiment in which content associated with a specific POI on a map is retrieved and displayed. In response to a zoom-in event at step 501 (e.g. a user invoking a zoom-in command on their map-displaying electronic device), at step 502 it may be determined whether the highest-allowable zoom level has been reached. In alternate embodiments, it may be determined whether the highest-allowable zoom level has been surpassed (i.e. in one embodiment zooming to the highest-allowable zoom level may display POI content, whereas in another embodiment attempting to zoom-in, once at the highest-allowable zoom level, may display POI content.)

If at step 502 it is determined the highest-allowable zoom level has been reached/surpassed (see discussion in earlier section), at step 504, the POI in focus may be determined (see example logic for determining POI in focus in flow diagram 400 in FIG. 4B.)

At step 506, a data store (e.g. an online database containing content related to POIs) may be searched for content associated with the POI in focus, identified at step 504. In one embodiment, a database may contain various types of content associated with various types of POIs. For example, POIs representing shopping malls may have associated POI content including store layout diagrams and hyperlinks to stores. The database may be compiled automatically by crawling the internet, finding and saving information associated with POIs. In another embodiment, the database may also contain information submitted by various third-parties—for example, a theme park may submit specific POI content, such as park layout and pricing information, to be associated with the POI designating the theme park.

A data store containing POI content may comprise one or more sources, such as on-line servers, locally-cached data, data CDs/DVDs, etc.

If at step 508 it is determined that, at step 506, POI content associated with the POI in focus has been found in the data store, at step 510 the POI content may be retrieved. At step 512 the POI content may be displayed.

If at step 508 it is determined that no POI content has been found at step 506, at step 514 a website associated with POI content 514, may be sough. At step 516, the website found at step 514, may be crawled to obtain content relevant to the POI. (Please see FIGS. 8 and 13 for discussion on automatically identifying and retrieving POI content from the internet.)

At step 512, POI content retrieved at step 516 may be displayed.

Referring now to FIG. 5B, flow diagram 550 illustrates an alternate embodiment in which POI content applies to an entire visible portion of a map. For example, POIs may not be displayed on a zoomed-in portion of a map for various reasons: no POIs may exist for that portion of the map; and/or the user may have turned off an option to display POIs; and/or mapping settings/preferences may have been set to treat a zoomed-in portion of a map as a single POI. In such embodiment, POI content (e.g. street photograph) which applies to the entire visible zoomed-in region, may be displayed.

At step 551, a user command to zoom in a map may be received. For example, on a hand-held device such as the iPhone®, the user may perform a “pinching-out” movement indicating a zoom-in command. In response, at step 552, it may be determined whether a maximum zoom level has been reached (i.e. no further map tiles with mapping/satellite data are available at the newly-requested zoom level). In an alternate embodiment, a logical “maximum zoom level” may be defined as an alternative to a physical zoom-in limitation defined by the lack of new map tiles/data to represent the newly-desired zoom level.

If at step 552 it is determined that the maximum zoom level has been reached, at step 554 it may be determined that content associated with the entire visible section of the map—as opposed to content associated with a specific POI on the map—should be retrieved.

At step 556, the visible section of the map may be identified. For example, in a map showing city streets, an entire city street (or visible portion thereof) may be identified as a collective POI. (as opposed to a specific POI, such as an individual house, store, landmark, etc.)

At step 558, content associated with the collective POI (i.e. visible section of the displayed map) may be retrieved and at step 560, the content may be displayed to the user.

FIG. 6 is a generalized flow diagram illustrating demarcating and flagging locations on a map for which POI content exists, according to one possible embodiment of the present invention. For example, a user viewing a map containing a large number of restaurants, may choose to have restaurants whose menus are available as POI content, to be flagged. This would allow the user to pan over the map and “zoom into” those restaurants whose menus will be displayed once the user has zoomed in.

At step 602, a zoom-in, zoom-out or a pan event occurs. For example, the user increases the zoom level of a map, or decreases the zoom level of a map, or pans the map in any direction.

At step 604, a query, containing the new range of coordinates visible on a map, may be submitted to a POI content data store (e.g. an online server connected to a database containing POI content, locally-cached POI content, etc.)

At step 606, a list of POIs (e.g. containing, at minimum, the coordinates of each POI) may be retrieved. In one embodiment, a database engine associated with the POI data store may execute a query to return all POIs whose coordinates are within the range submitted at step 604. In alternate embodiments, the returned list may include other data associated with the POIs, such as thumb-nail photos, etc.

At step 608, all POIs on the list at step 606 may be flagged on the map. For example, a location marker (such as a pushpin icon) may be displayed on the map at the coordinates corresponding with every POI on the list at step 606.

At step 610, flow 600 may end. In alternate embodiments, the POIs flagged on a map, based on the availability of POI content for these POIs, may be grouped by—or delimited by—an association among the POIs. For example, POIs flagged on a map may represent POIs that have associated POI content and that have been defined by a social networking group (Please see FIG. 11 for further discussion.) For example, a dozen bars in a city block may have POI content associated with them, but only five of them may be flagged on a map that is being used by the members of a social network frequenting only these five bars.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are generalized block diagrams illustrating displaying POI content on top of a map, obscuring only a portion of the map, according to one possible embodiment of the present invention. While in some embodiments discussed in previous figures, it may be advantageous to replace a map with POI content (e.g. on PDAs and smart phones, where screen size is too small to display both a map and POI content), in other embodiments it may be advantageous to display POI content as an image superimposed on the map. For example, when a map is displayed on a large screen, POI content may take up a small area of the map. In such case it may be more useful for the user to see the POI content, while being able to view the map around it.

Another advantage of displaying POI content as a separate image superimposed on a map, may be the increased speed for redrawing the map once the POI content is removed. When POI content needs to be removed or hidden (for example, when a user pans the map or zooms out) it may be faster to hide/remove an overlay showing POI content, as discussed in this embodiment, than to redraw the map, as may be required in an embodiment where map content is replaced with POI content.

Referring to FIG. 7A, map-display application 700 may display a map 702. In response to a zoom-in event past the highest-allowable zoom level (for example, as indicated by the zoom-indication bar labeled “Layout” 706) POI content 704 may be displayed over map 702 in map-display application 700.

In the presently-preferred embodiment, POI content 704 may be displayed centered over the POI location it is associated with (i.e. the center of the POI content may be at the coordinates as the center of the POI location.) In alternate embodiments, POI content 704 may be displayed at other locations on the map, for example in a corner of the map, in an attempt to keep the POI location associated with POI content 704, un-obscured from the user's view. In another embodiment the user may be able to set preferences for the default placement of POI content. In yet another possible embodiment, the user may be able to use a pointing device to move the POI content on the map.

Referring now to FIG. 7B, in commonly-used mapping technologies (e.g. used by mapping services such as Google Maps®, Yahoo! Maps®, Windows Live Search Maps®, etc.) a map 702 is composed of map tiles (e.g. map tile “x1, y1, z” 710, which is part of a matrix of twenty map tiles, x1,y1,z1-x5,y4,z1) In response to user requests such as zoom, pan and selecting new locations, new map tiles may be loaded and displayed by mapping application 700. Technologies such as AJAX, HTML, DHTML, Javascript, etc. may be used to render a map from map tiles generated by a mapping server.

In the presently-preferred embodiment, POI content may be displayed as a map overlay object. An overlay object is an object on the map that is tied to latitude/longitude coordinates, so it can move when the map is dragged (i.e. panned) or zoomed. An overlay object may display content—for example an image—whose source is different from the source of the map. Various types of overlays may be used in the implementation of the present invention; for example, custom overlays, layer overlays, etc.

According to the present invention, map 702 may be constructed from map tiles transmitted to map-display application 700 from a mapping server, while overlay object 714 may display POI content as an image (or in the form of other media) transmitted to map-display application 700 from a different source than the mapping server.

Various styles and methods may be used to construct, present and hide POI content to the user. Overlay object 714, displaying POI content, may be constructed (i.e. rendered with POI content) in the device's memory, invisible to the user. Overlay object 714 may become visible to the user only once all POI content has been retrieved and rendered on the memory-resident overlay object.

An overlay object may be removed from the user's view using various methods, including but not limited to, invoking the “hide” (or similar) method of the overlay object 714, invoking the “remove” (or similar) method of overlay object 714, by unloading the overlay object 714 from memory, etc.

A shadow effect graphic 716 may be displayed in proximity of overlay object 714. Shadow effect graphic 716 may comprise a graphics displayed as translucent, such that map tiles obscured by shadow effect graphic 716 (e.g. map tile x5,y2,z 718) may be partially visible. Shadow effects may be used both for aesthetics and to help delineate for the user POI content from the map.

FIG. 8 is a generalized block diagrams illustrating automatically obtaining POI content, according to one possible embodiment of the present invention. Content associated with a POI may not exist in a data store. The internet may be searched automatically for content associated with a POI, for display to the user as POI content.

Map-display application 800 may display a selected area of a map 802. Map 802 may display a pushpin 804, indicating the existence of information associated with a POI (in this example “Great Mall”). In response to a user command to zoom-in to/past the highest-allowed zoom level, an automatic process may search the internet for content associated with the POI in focus (in this example, the POI associated with the pushpin 804) and display the content to the user.

Map-display application 800 may perform electronic searches on the internet 810. Various searches may be conducted to identify a website associated with the POI in focus (e.g. marked by pushpin 804) For example, online versions of yellow pages, search engines such as Google® and online directories mashing search engine information with geographic locations, may be searched to identify a website associated with a POI.

A website associated with a POI is likely to have a main landing page 812 (usually named “index.htm”, “index.htm”, etc.) containing un-compiled computer code (e.g. HTML, DHTML, Javascript, XML, etc.) The code of the landing page may be scanned for terms associated with content. For example, terms including “directory”, “map”, “content”, “layout”, etc. that are part of hyperlinks and that contain suffixes (e.g. “.html”, “.htm”, “.asp”, “.aspx”, etc.) may point to another web page containing relevant content, or links, to relevant content. For example, term “directory.asp” 814 on page “index.html” 812 is part of a link “http://www.greatmall.co.com/html/storedirectory.asp” to web page “storedirectory.asp” 816.

Pages on the websites may be further crawled to identify relevant content. Page “storedirectory.asp” 816 may be scanned for terms identifying graphics (e.g. “.jpg”, “.gif”, “.png”, etc.) A hyperlink containing a graphics suffixes (e.g. “http://www.greatmall.co.com/maps/thumbs/1607.jpg” containing suffix “.jpg” 818) may be followed to the associated graphic. In this example, image “1607.jpg” 820 may be retrieved by map-display application 800 and displayed as POI content 806.

Please note that the process of crawling a website to identify a specific type of content, as summarized in the two preceding paragraphs, is well understood in prior art and is used widely by the majority of the search engines—thus the present invention may rely on this process to derive POI content.

In another embodiment, crawling websites to identify POI content may be performed routinely (in a manner analogous to the crawling performed by web search engines such as Google® to index general web sites) and POI content identified may be aggregated into one or more data stores dedicated to POI content. Future searches for POI content may be performed against such dedicated POI content data stores.

FIG. 9 is a generalized block diagrams illustrating displaying POI content in response to a command in a context menu, according to one possible embodiments of the present invention. A context menu (or pop-up menu, or any menu which is displayed in response to a user's action, such as clicking an item in a graphical user interface, offering a list of options which vary depending on the context of the action, the application running, and the item selected) may be used to assist the user of a map-display application to alter views and display additional information on a map.

Map-display application 900, displaying a map 904, may display a context menu 908 in response to a user action (e.g. a pointing-device action such as right-clicking the mouse.) At present, in common mapping applications, context menu 908 may include functions such as “Add a pushpin”, “Drive from . . . ”, “Drive to . . . ”, “1-click directions”, “Center map here”, “Zoom to street level”, “Zoom to city level”, etc. A user's selecting one of the functions above, from the context menu, may cause the map-display application to perform the requested function, which may result in the retrieval of more data from online resources and the display of additional information.

In previous embodiments of the present invention, the discussion included a user's zoom-in action which in turn may cause the display of POI content. In an alternate embodiment illustrated in FIG. 9, a user may choose a function from the context menu to display POI content.

For example, the function “Zoom to layout” 910 may display on context menu 908, associated with map-display application 900. In response to a user's selection of the “Zoom to layout” 910 function, map-display application 900 may retrieve and display POI content (e.g. associated with a location 906 marked on the map 904)

Similarly, keyboard shortcuts may be used to invoke a function to display POI content associated with a location on the map. Keyboard shortcuts are commonly used on computing devices, allowing a user to send a command to an application with a simple keystroke. For example, the key combination “control-c” is commonly used as a “copy” function. In an analogous manner, a different key-combination may be defined in the map-display application, allowing a user to use a key-combination to invoke the display of POI content associated with a map, or location on a map, displayed by the map-display application.

In a portable device (e.g. a smart phone such as the iPhone®, Palm device, etc.) a touch screen may be used to invoke the display of POI content on a map displayed on the device. For example, certain input received from the touch screen, resulting from a user's touch and/or stylus touch, may generate a command to display POI content on the map.

FIGS. 10A, 10B, 10C and 10D are generalized block diagrams illustrating displaying varied POI content association with a location on a map, according to other possible embodiments of the present invention. A user may be displayed varied types of POI content associated with a selected location on a map, and the user may choose the type of POI content to display.

Referring to FIG. 10A, map-display application 1000 may display a map 1004. In most commonly-used mapping applications, the user is allowed to choose a zoom-level for the display of the map. For example, zoom-levels may be quantified b zoom-terms such as “USA”, “State”, “City”, “Street”, etc. A user may select a zoom-term and in response, the map may be zoomed to a pre-determined zoom-level. For example, the user may choose zoom-term “Street” 1002, causing map 1004 to display a map at a “street level” (i.e. generally the highest-obtainable zoom level, commonly displaying one or more houses and a few streets.)

Referring now to FIG. 10B, the user may select a zoom-term associated with POI content. For example, the user may select the zoom-term labeled “Home” 1010 which, in this example, may display real estate-related information.

In response to a user's selecting a zoom-term associated with POI content, a POI content menu 1013, listing all available POI content types, may be displayed. In this example, POI content menu 1013 may list content-type-terms such as “Home Layout” 1012, “Information”, “Real Estate Co”, “Finance”, etc.

In the presently-preferred embodiment, a POI content menu may be rendered dynamically, depending on the types of POI content associated with a location on a map. In alternate embodiments, services providing a mapping service and POI content (for example, real estate companies) may specify the content of a POI content menu. In other embodiments other methods may be used to display the content-type-terms used in a POI content menu.

In this example, a user's selecting content-type-term “Home Layout” 1012 may cause a layout map of the house at the focal point of the map, to be displayed as POI content 1014. POI content 1014 may be an image, media, KML (for Keyhole Markup Language) file, document, etc.

In the presently-preferred embodiment, POI content 1014 may display over the map, possibly leaving portions of the map 1004 visible to the user. In alternate embodiments, POI content 1014 may be displayed in place of map 1004 (or over the entirety of map 1004 obscuring map 1004 completely.)

Referring now to FIG. 10C, a user may select a different content-type-term (e.g. “Information” 1020) from POI content menu 1013, which may cause a different POI content 1022 to be displayed. In this example, selecting content-type-term “Information” 1020 may cause POI content 1022 to display. POI content 1022 may contain information on the house at the focal point of the map 1004.

Referring now to FIG. 10D, a user may select a different content-type-term (e.g. “Real Estate Co” 1030) from POI content menu 1013, which may cause a different POI content 1032 to be displayed. In this example, selecting content-type-term “Real Estate Co” 1030 may cause POI content 1032 to display. POI content 1032 may contain, for example, information on the real estate company listing the house at the focal point of the map 1004.

In alternate embodiments, map-display application 1000 may store the last user selection of content-type-term from POI content menu 1013. In response to a user zoom-in action at the “Home” 1010 level, the POI content displayed may correspond to the last type of POI content displayed previously. For example, a user may select content-type-term “Information” 1020 from the POI content menu 1013. Then the user may zoom-out, causing POI content to not be displayed. The user may pan the map until another house becomes the focal point of the map. The user may zoom-in to the “Home” level 1010 and the POI content displayed may be “Information” pertaining to the house which is now the focal point.

FIG. 11 is a generalized block diagram illustrating displaying POI content associated with social networking websites, according to one possible embodiment of the present invention. Social networking websites, such as MySpace™, Facebook™, etc. allow users to exchange information about themselves and their interests with remote users. For example, users can create a virtual community and geo-tag (i.e. assign content to a geographic location) common points of interest.

Please note that in FIG. 11, one map-display application is shown in two phases: as map-display application 1100 a and then as map-display application 1100 b. Items related to the map-display application are labeled 1101 a, 1104 a, and 1106 a when displayed in conjunction with one phase of the map display application 1100 a. When displayed in conjunction with the second phase 1100 b of the map-display application, the items above are labeled 1101 b, 1104 b and 1106 b, respectively.

A map-display application 1100 a may display a map 1101 a. Map 1101 a may include geographic content (“POI”) 1106 a (e.g. buildings, landmarks, etc.) POI 1106 a may be marked (e.g. by pushpins 1104 a) denoting POI content associated with the POI 1106 a.

Map 1101 a may be displayed at the maximum-zoom level (e.g. as indicated by the zoom-level “Street” 1102) Attempting to zoom past the maximum-zoom level (e.g. as indicated by the zoom-level “Layout” 1110) may cause the display of POI content 1112 on map 1101 b in map-display application 1100 b. POI content 1112 may be associated with the POI 1106 b at the focal point of the map, and/or with a pushpin 1104 b suggesting availability of POI content associated with the POI 1106 b.

While the displaying of the POI content at the maximum-zoom level has been described above, there are various other conditions under which the POI content can be displayed. As zoom technology improves, it may be possible to obtain very detailed maps and it may be more useful to display the POI content at a zoom level lower than the maximum zoom. For example, the POI content may be displayed when a predetermined zoom level has been exceeded, which the user can set. In one embodiment, the user may wish to have POI information at all zoom levels. Alternatively, the user may set the POI content to only be displayed when a predetermined zoom level is met such as: street level or a predetermined viewing scale. The scale of the display is a ratio of physical size to displayed size. Thus, a map of a city street may be displayed at a scale of 1:10,000 or 1 inch=1,000 feet or any other ratio.

As discussed above, the zoom level can correspond to a specific scale and in an embodiment, the POI information can be set to any zoom level by the user. At the lowest zoom level, the entire planet may be displayed and POI information can be the Earth's physical characteristics: diameter, volume, mass, speed of rotation, etc. As the user zooms in, continents may be displayed and the POI information may include information about each displayed continent such as: population, area, climate, number of countries, etc. Similar POI information may be provided for zoom levels that display: cities, districts, streets, blocks and buildings.

POI content 1112 may be related to social networking. For example, if POI 1106 b were the place of residence of one of the members of an online network/group, POI content 1112 may present the member's information/blog/website, etc. In another example, POI 1106 b may be a sports stadium/concert hall/restaurant/bar/meeting place of significant to members of a social network, whereby POI content 1112 may be information related to the meeting place, such as venue/menu/hours of operation/website etc.

In the presently-preferred embodiment, map 1101 b may be automatically centered within map-display application 1100 b, in response to a zoom action to the “Layout” 1110 level. Map 1101 b may be automatically repositioned (panned) such that POI 1106 b is at the center, as compared to the previous display position of the POI 1106 a (shown right-and-top of center) on map 1101 a, displayed at a “Street” 1102 zoom level.

FIGS. 12A, 12B, 12C and 12D are a generalized flow diagrams illustrating various algorithms used by a map-display application for retrieving and displaying POI content, according to numerous possible embodiments of the present invention. Map-display applications (e.g. web browser-based applications with a back-end mapping service, such as Google Maps®, Yahoo! Maps®, Windows Live Search Maps®, etc.) respond to user requests, in the form of events. An event is registered to be received by the map-display application from the operating system on the client device. An event (e.g. “zoom-in” event) may be generated in response to a user's action (e.g. rolling the trackball of a mouse upwards). In response to an event, a map-display application may request new map tiles, new images, etc. and/or change its display.

Mapping services, (e.g. Google Maps®, Yahoo! Maps®, Windows Live Search Maps®, etc.) provide application programming interface (“API”) to allow a web page to interface with a the mapping service. The example below illustrates interfacing with Yahoo! Maps®, however APIs provided by other mapping services may be used to implement the present invention to work with all other mapping services.

In the presently-preferred embodiment, a web browser (“map-display application”) may be enabled for displaying a map off of a remote mapping server. Code may be added to a web page to allow the web page to display a map off of a remote mapping server, while executing within the map-display application. An example of one possible implementation of creating a map-enabled web page:

Including Yahoo! Maps AJAX API in a webpage and initializing a map 1  <html> 2  <head> 3  <script type=“text/javascript” 4  src=“http://api.maps.yahoo.com/   ajaxymap?v=3.7&appid=YahooDemo”> 5  </script> 6  <style type=“text/css”> 7  #map{ 8  height: 75%; 9  width: 100%; 10  } 11  </style> 12  </head> 13  <body> 14  <div id=“map”></div> 15  <script type=“text/javascript”> 16    // Create a map object 17    var map = new YMap(document.getElementById(‘map’)); 18    // Add map type control 19    map.addTypeControl( ); 20    // Add map zoom (long) control 21    map.addZoomLong( ); 22    // Add the Pan Control 23    map.addPanControl( ); 24    // Set map type to either of: YAHOO_MAP_SAT,      YAHOO_MAP_HYB, 25    // YAHOO_MAP_REG 26    map.setMapType(YAHOO_MAP_SAT); 27    // Set the map zoom rang 28    map.setZoomRange(0,16); 29    // Display the map centered on a geocoded location 30    map.drawZoomAndCenter(“San Francisco”, 3); 100  </script> 101  </body> 102  </html>

Referring to FIG. 12A, flow chart 1200 illustrates one example of initializing a map-display application, registering zoom and pan events and creating an overlay object (for future display of POI content.)

At step 1202, map creation and initialization steps may take place. For example, initialization steps may include: referencing the Yahoo! Maps AJAX API library with a unique code id (line 4 in the code snippet above), creating a map object (line 17), adding a zoom control to the map (line 21), adding a pan control (line 23), setting the type of map to be displayed (line 26), etc.

At step 1204, a zoom-range for the map may be set (line 28). A zoom-range is a value-pair with one value specifying the lowest/minimum zoom level and one specifying the highest/maximum zoom level. In this example, Yahoo! Maps® API is used, thus code “map.setZoomRange(0,16);” (line 28) indicates the highest/maximum zoom level being “0” and lowest/minimum being 16. In other examples where other mapping services' API is used (e.g. Google Maps® API) other conventions may be used (e.g. lower number indicating the minimum zoom level, such as zero for Earth from space, and the higher number indicating the maximum zoom level.)

At step 1206 the geocoded location of the map may be transmitted to the mapping server (line 30) and map tiles may be received from the mapping server and displayed, at step 1208.

User commands, such as zoom and pan, transmitted to the map-display application (e.g. via an input device such as keyboard, touch screen, stylus, mouse, etc.) may be used to trigger the logic for displaying POI content. Sample code to capture events (i.e. events generated by user commands, such as zoom and pan) may include, in one implementation:

Capturing zoom/pan events 40  //Register to capture a zoom event 41  YEvent.Capture(map, EventsList.changeZoom, POIContentZoom); 42  //Register to capture a pan event 43  YEvent.Capture(map, EventsList.changePan, POIContentPan);

At step 1210, zoom and pan events may be registered to be captured and in response, functions to handle the events may be assigned. For example, a function “POIContentZoom( )” to be called upon a user zoom event may be assigned (line 41). Another function “POIContentPan( )” may be assigned to handle user pan events (line 43).

POI content may be displayed as an overlay object. An overlay object is an objects on the map that is tied to latitude/longitude coordinates, so it can move when the map is dragged (i.e. panned) or zoomed. An overlay object may display content—for example an image—whose source is different from the source of the map. Various types of overlay objects may be used in the implementation of the present invention; for example, custom overlays, layer overlays, etc. An example of one possible implementation of creating an overlay object on a map:

Adding overlay object to map to contain and display POI content 50  var cPoint = new YCoordPoint(50,50); //define point on   map for overlay 51  var cOverlay = new YCustomOverlay(cPoint); //create overlay object 52  var cObject = YUtility.createNode(‘IMG’,‘overlay01’);   //create note of type image 53  //define source of image to be used in overlay 54  cObject.src = ‘http://www.wikimap.com/images/placeholder.gif’; 55  cObject.style.width=0; //initially overlay has no width or height   so doesn't show 56  cObject.style.height=0; 57  // attach object to overlay 58  YUtility.appendNode(cOverlay,cObject); 59  // add overlay to map 60  map.addOverlay(cOverlay);

At step 1212, an overlay object may be added to the map displayed at step 1208. In this example, the coordinates on the map where POI content would later be displayed may be defined (line 50), an overlay object may be declared as an image (line 52), the source (i.e. URL) of a blank placeholder image may be defined (line 54), the overlay image may be set to size zero (lines 55 and 56), overlay properties may be assigned to the overlay object (line 58), and the overlay object may be added to the map object (line 60).

In this example, a dummy image may be assigned to an overlay object as a placeholder for future POI content, and the overlay object, being of size zero, may be added to the map. Using this algorithm of pre-creating a blank, invisible overlay object before any POI content is selected, then when POI content becomes available, rendering of POI content and resizing the overlay object to make the POI content visible, may make the rendering of POI content faster.

In alternate embodiments, other algorithms may be used, for example, hiding the overlay object until POI content needs to be displayed, creating an overlay object only at the time POI content needs to be displayed, using other types of overlays (e.g. to store media) and assigning various styles to overlays (e.g. different styles for different types of POI content) etc.

At step 1214 other functionality may be added and other processes invoked.

Referring now to FIG. 12B, the logic of flowchart 1220 may be implemented in response to a zoom event (i.e. the operating system notifying the map-display application that a zoom command has been issued, for example via a user's input device.) An example of one possible implementation of the function “POIContentZoom( )”, assigned to handle zoom events (line 41):

Function POIContentZoom( ) 70  function POIContentZoom (_e, _c){ 71  if (map.getZoomLevel( )==1) 72  {  // code to identify POI in focus and request information from   server 73     // code to define new image in overlay 74     // code to make overlay visible 75     // code to reposition/resize overlay to fit over POI on map 76     // any other code for displaying POI content in overlay 77     POIcontentVisible=true; //indicate overlay is visible      through a variable 78  } else if (POIcontentVisible) 79  { 80     // code to hide overlay 81     // any other code to restore map to original size/postion/view 82     POIcontentVisible=false; //indicate overlay is not      visible through a variable 83  } 84  }

At step 1222, function “POIContentZoom (_e, _c)” (line 70) may be automatically invoked in response to a user's zoom action. At step 1224, if is determined that the maximum zoom level is reached (e.g. zoom level is 1 where 1 is the maximum, see line 71) at steps 1228-1238, the POI content associated with the POI on the map, may be retrieved and displayed.

At step 1228, the coordinates and/or name and/or other identifier (“POI information”) of the POI in focus may be obtained (line 72). At step 1230 the POI information may be transmitted to a server (e.g. mapping server, POI content server, database, etc.) to identify the POI and search for POI content associated with the POI information.

At step 1232, POI content (i.e. a link to an image, or any other media file) may be received from the server. At step 1234, the image/media/POI content received may be assigned to the overlay object (line 73).

At step 1236, the overlay object may be made visible to the user (line 74). At step 1238, additional functionality may be added. For example, the overlay object may be repositioned and/or resized with respect to the POI on the map (line 75). An internally-defined variable tracking the visibility of the overlay object may be set to “true” (line 77) to indicate the overlay object is visible.

If at step 1224 it is determined the maximum level of the map has not been reached, referring now to FIG. 12C, the logic of flow diagram 1240 may be invoked.

If at step 1242 it is determined an overlay object is visible (line 78) at step 1250 the overlay object may be hidden/made invisible (line 80). At step 1252 other functionality may be invoked to restore the map to its previous state (line 81). An internally-defined variable tracking the visibility of the overlay object may be set to “false” (line 82) to indicate the overlay object is not visible.

If at step 1242 it is determined the overlay object is not visible, at step 1248 the flow of the present invention may end (other functionality, outside the scope of the present invention, may be invoked—e.g. updating routes, traffic information, etc.).

Referring now to FIG. 12D, flow diagram 1260 illustrates logic for handling pan events (for example, the logic of function “POIContentZoom( )” defined in line 43 to be automatically invoked in response to a pan event.)

At step 1262, a pan event-handling function (e.g. “POIContentZoom( )”) is called in response to a pan event. If at step 1263 it is determined the overlay object is visible, steps 1264-1274 may be executed.

If at step 1264 it is determined the current POI (i.e. the POI associated with the POI content displayed in the overlay object) is visible, at step 1270 it may be determined whether another POI (“new POI”) on the visible map is closer to the new center of the map than the current POI. If a new POI is determined at step 1270, at step 1272 information on the new POI is obtained (e.g. coordinates, name, etc.) and at step 1274, step 1230 in FIG. 12B may be invoked to display POI content associated with the new POI. If at step 1270 it is determined no new POI exists, flow 1260 may terminate.

If at step 1264 it is determined the current POI is not visible on the map, at step 1276 the overlay object may be terminated (e.g. hidden from view, unloaded from memory, etc.)

Following step 1276—or if at step 1263 it is determined no overlay is visible—at step 1278 it may be determined whether another POI is in focus. If it is determined at step 1278 another POI is in focus, step 1228 in FIG. 12B may be invoked to display new POI content associated with the other POI determined to be in focus at step 1278.

The flow diagrams depicted in FIGS. 12A-12D, and any associated computer code listed, are examples of one way of implementing the present invention—many other implementations, logical flows and code are possible without departing from the spirit of the invention. Yahoo! Maps® API was chosen for illustrative purposes only and other mapping services' APIs may be used with minor modification to the code illustrated here.

FIG. 13 is a generalized block diagrams illustrating retrieving POI content from web sties associated with points of interest (“POI”) on a map, according to one possible embodiments of the present invention. POIs appearing on a map (e.g. stores, restaurants, attractions, etc.) commonly have associated web sites on the world-wide web. A web site usually consists of one or more web pages, one of which is common landing page. For example, the US PTO office at 600 Dulany St., Alexandria, Va. 22314 may be marked on a map as a result of a search. The US PTO's website, www.uspto.gov may be obtained as part of the result-set of the same search.

In present mapping technologies, a link may exist between a POI on a map and a web site associated with the POI. For example, searching for the term “pizza” in a city, on Google Maps®, may display markers in all locations where pizza restaurants were found. Clicking on a marker displays standardized information about the POI, such as link to a website, address, links to reviews, links to driving directions, links to contacting the POI, etc.

Please note that in FIG. 13, one map-display application is shown in two phases: as map-display application 1300 a and then as map-display application 1300 b. Items related to the map-display application are labeled 1302 a and 1304 a when displayed in conjunction with one phase of the map display application 1300 a. When displayed in conjunction with the second phase 1300 b of the map-display application, the items above are labeled 1302 b, 1304 b, respectively.

Map-display application 1300 a may display a map containing a POI 1306. Map-display application 1300 a may also display a zoom control 1302 a. (In this example, zoom control 1302 a may display a series of bars to indicate the current zoom level. The right-most and largest bar 1304 a is not colored, indicating the highest zoom level has not been reached.)

Once the map in map-display application 1300 b has been zoomed in to the maximum level (e.g. as indicated by zoom control 1302 b where the right-most bar 1304 b is in solid color) POI content 1312, associated with the POI 1306, may be displayed.

In this example, POI 1306 is a restaurant and the associated POI content 1312 is the restaurant's menu. In other examples POI 1306 may be any type of business and the associated POI content 1312 may be any text, image, media, etc. associated with the POI 1306.

POI content 1312 may reside in a web page 1308 on the world-wide web 1320. In other possible embodiments, POI content 1312 may reside elsewhere on the world-wide web 1320 and be pointed to from web page 1308 (ex. via a hyperlink.)

In yet another possible embodiment, web page 1308 may contain a tag (for example <wikimap>true</wikimap> 1310) indicating to map-display application 1300 b that content on, and/or pointed-to from, web page 1308 is to be used as POI content 1312. In such embodiment, a business may tag a web page with a pre-determined tag, indicating to map-display applications that a tagged web page is to be displayed as POI content.

For example, a restaurant may add a web page to its website containing POI content, such as a menu. That web page may be tagged with a pre-determined tags (e.g. <wikimap>true</wikimap> 1310) indicating to map-display applications that POI content is contained in that web page. When a map displaying a POI 1306 is zoomed to/past the highest-zoom level, map-display application 1300 a may search the world-wide web 1320 for a website associated with the POI 1306. The website may then be searched for a web page tagged as the POI content-containing page 1308, and the content in the webpage 1308 may then be displayed by the map-display application 1300 b as POI content 1312. (In this example, the restaurant's menu is the POI content.)

In alternate embodiments, other methods may be used to allow businesses to provide their individual POI content for display when a map showing their business is zoomed into POI content-display mode.

FIGS. 14A and 14B are generalized block diagrams illustrating retrieving and displaying POI content from a mapping server, according to one possible embodiments of the present invention. At present, client-sided map-display applications obtain mapping data from mapping servers. Maps are composed of graphical images, known as “map tiles”, that are transmitted from a mapping server, and assembled and displayed as a map a map-display application.

Map tiles of a geographic region not supported by a certain zoom level are often blank (i.e. show no geographic data other than text, such as “we are sorry but we don't have imagery at this zoom level for this region. Try zooming out for a broader look.”)

Referring to FIG. 14A, a four-phase sequence is shown where a map-display application is shown in four different phases at different zoom levels. In each phase, map tiles are retrieved from the mapping server (or local cache if a map tile had already been retrieved from the mapping server and saved locally) and are stitched together to form a map.

In the first phase, map-display application 1400 a may display a map 1401 a (e.g. an aerial view of an airport) at a zoom level corresponding to 75% of the maxim zoom level (as shown by zoom indicator 1402 a “75%”.)

In the second phase, map-display application 1400 b may display a zoomed-in map 1401 b (e.g. the same airport in map 1401 a but shown in a higher zoom level) at a zoom level corresponding to 100% of the maxim zoom level (as shown by zoom indicator 1402 b “100%”.)

In the third phase, in accordance with the methodology used in prior art, in response to a user's “zoom-in” command past the highest-supported zoom level (as shown by zoom indicator 1402 c “Layout”) the mapping server may return blank map tiles 1420 (commonly notifying the user, in plain text, that no imagery is available at the present zoom level.)

In the fourth phase, in response to a user's “zoom out” command, map-display application 1400 d may display map 1401 d (identical to map 1401 b) at a 100% zoom level (as shown by zoom indicator 1402 d “100%”.)

While the sequence shown in FIG. 14A illustrates the operation of prior art (a user zooms-in multiple times, with each increased zoom level showing a closer-up view. At a certain zoom level the user sees blank tiles with text indicating no data is available at that zoom level. The user then realizes they have zoomed in too far, so they zoom out and see map imagery at the highest supported zoom level,) FIG. 14B illustrates a similar sequence benefiting from the art disclosed in the present invention.

Referring now to FIG. 14B, map-display application 1400 b may display map 1401 b at a 100% zoom level. Let us assume that is the highest zoom-level for which a mapping server can display a map of that region. A subsequent zoom-in command may then display POI content 1430 (e.g. the layout of the airport terminal shown in map 1401 b) A zoom indictor may be labeled “Layout” 1402 c to indicate to the user that the POI content 1430 rendered inside the map-display application 1400 c represents the layout of the location the user has zoomed in on.

In the presently-preferred embodiment, map tiles at a zoom-level for which no geographic mapping content is available, may be rendered with POI content by the mapping server. Thus a map-display application on a user's device, requesting map tiles corresponding to a given zoom-level from a mapping server, may receive map imagery at one zoom level, and POI content at another zoom level.

In alternate embodiments, a map-display application on a user's device, in response to receiving blank map tiles from a mapping server, may then obtain and display POI content from another source.

The examples above demonstrate the power and flexibility of the present invention in retrieving and displaying POI content associated with one or more POIs on a map.

The invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments. However, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that it is possible to embody the invention in specific forms other than those of the preferred embodiments described above. This may be done without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Thus, the preferred embodiment is merely illustrative and should not be considered restrictive in any way. The scope of the invention is given by the appended claims, rather than the preceding description, and all variations and equivalents which fall within the range of the claims are intended to be embraced therein. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of displaying alternate content on an electronic map displaying geographic content, in response to a zoom-in command on the electronic map, comprising: providing an electronic device having a map display application that is coupled to the internet and a display for displaying a selected area of an electronic map; providing two types of content: geographic content and alternate content, wherein the geographic content is subject to electronic magnification via zooming; selecting a pre-determined zoom level for the geographic content displayed on the electronic map; displaying the geographic content; receiving a first zoom-in command, wherein the first zoom-in command is directed at the selected area of the electronic map; determining the pre-determined zoom level has not been reached; displaying the geographic content at a greater level of detail; receiving a second zoom-in command, wherein the second zoom-in command is directed at the selected area of the electronic map; determining the pre-determined zoom level has been reached; determining the alternate content is not associated with any one individual point-of-interest (“POI”) displayed in the selected area of the electronic map, wherein a POI is a specific point visible in the selected area of the electronic map which is electronically identified by the map display application and/or by the remote server; transmitting information representing the selected area of the electronic map to a remote server; as a result of the determination that alternate content is not associated with any one individual POI then receiving the alternate content for the selected area of the electronic map from the remote server, wherein the alternate content is associated with the entirety of the selected area of the electronic map at the selected zoom level, and displaying the alternate content for the selected area on the display, wherein the alternate content is at least one of the following: a schematic design and/or a floor-plan and/or video media and/or audio media and/or live interactive video content.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the zoom-in command is received from an input device.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the input device is a touch screen programmed to transmit to the map display application a zoom-in command.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the alternate content for the selected area is displayed on top of the selected area of the electronic map.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the alternate content for the selected area is displayed in place of the selected area of the electronic map.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein in response to receiving an additional zoom-out command or a pan command, the alternate content for the selected area is removed from the display.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein in the transmitting information representing the selected area step, GPS coordinates delimiting the selected area are transmitted to the remote server.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of receiving the alternate content for the selected area from the remote server and displaying the alternate content for the selected area on the display, further include: receiving a first set of alternate content from the remote server, wherein the first set of the alternate content includes information allowing selection of a second set of alternate content; displaying the first set of alternate content to the user; receiving user input selecting at least some of the first set of alternate content; and retrieving and displaying at least some of the second set of alternate content pertaining to the at least some of the first set of alternate content selected by the user input.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first set of alternate content contains menu-type data corresponding with more detailed data in the second set of alternate content.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein in the determining if the pre-determined zoom level step has been reached step, the selected zoom level corresponds to a maximum attainable zoom level of the selected area of the electronic map.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein in the receiving the alternate content for the selected area from the remote server step, the alternate content for the selected area is in the form of a computer media file.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the computer media file contains at least one image.
 13. The method of claim 1 wherein in the receiving the alternate content for the selected area step, the content for the selected area is one or more map tiles.
 14. A method of substituting alternate content for geographic content while displaying the geographic content on an electronic map, comprising: providing two types of content: geographic content and alternate content, wherein the geographic content is one of: a satellite image or a street map comprised of graphical tiles, and wherein the alternate content is at least one of the following: a schematic design and/or a floor-plan and/or video media and/or audio media and/or live interactive video content. selecting a threshold zoom level for the geographic content displayed on the electronic map; displaying the geographic content; receiving a first zoom-in command, wherein the first zoom-in command is directed at the selected area of the electronic map; determining the threshold zoom level has not been reached; displaying the geographic content at a greater level of detail; receiving a second zoom-in command, wherein the second zoom-in command is directed at the selected area of the electronic map; determining the threshold zoom level has been reached; selecting a visible portion of the electronic map that is displayed as result of the zoom-in command; and determining that the selected visible portion of the electronic map does not contain any one individual points-of-interests (“POIs”) that is uniquely associated with the alternate content; transmitting information representing the selected visible portion of the electronic map to a remote server; as a result of the determination the selected visible portion of the electronic map does not contain any one individual POI that is uniquely associated with the alternate content then receiving the alternate content associated with the selected visible portion of the electronic map from the remote server; and substituting the alternate content for the geographic content wherein the alternate content is displayed instead of the geographic content within the original confines of the geographic content.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the selection of the visible portion of the electronic map is performed automatically by the map-display application.
 16. The method of claim 14, wherein the alternate content further includes a representation of the geographic content at a different angle and/or from a different perspective.
 17. The method of claim 14, wherein the steps of receiving and displaying alternate content associated with the selected visible portion of the electronic map further include: displaying a menu in the map-display application, wherein the menu contains information on two or more possible types of alternate content; receiving user input selecting one of the two or more types of alternate content; displaying further alternate content associated with the input selecting one of the two or more types of alternate content.
 18. The method of claim 14, wherein the zoom-in command is received via a voice command received by the electronic device.
 19. The method of claim 14, wherein the content associated with the selected visible portion of the electronic map is received from a data store of map-related content.
 20. The method of claim 14, wherein the information representing the selected visible portion of the electronic map contains GPS coordinates.
 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the GPS coordinates define the geographic area encompassed by the selected visible portion of the electronic map.
 22. The method of claim 14, wherein the alternate content includes a photographic image.
 23. The method of claim 14, wherein the alternate content includes commercial information.
 24. The method of claim 23, wherein the commercial information is hyperlinked to other online information. 